


Five in the apocalypse sob stories

by LittleRit



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Drabble Collection, Experimenting because I have ideas and not enough time to make full one shots of them all, Feels, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Headcanon, Tragedy, bring a tissue, the apocalypse (umbrella academy)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:41:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28778463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleRit/pseuds/LittleRit
Summary: A collection of very short (100 words or less), and very sad, stories about Five's (and Dolores') life in the apocalypse.You are welcome to use them as prompts :)
Relationships: Dolores & Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy)
Comments: 40
Kudos: 34





	1. The warmth of the campfire

**Author's Note:**

> These are cross posted from my tumblr @LittleRit. If you wish to use these as writing or art prompts please go ahead, although it'd be cool if you could let me know so I could see what you made!
> 
> These are just little head canons or ideas I have about the tragedy of all those years Five spent alone.

In the apocalypse, on nights that he had a campfire, Five would sit Dolores as close to it as possible for a few hours before bedtime.

Then, once she was warm, he would crawl into his nest of blankets and wrap his arms around her, and pretend that the reason that she was warm was because she was alive.


	2. Sequins

Dolores liked sequins because Five seemed happier when she wore them.

Five liked sequins because when Dolores sat by their campfire at night, if he looked at her out of the corner of his eye, then the way they caused the light to flicker and shimmer made it look like she was breathing.


	3. The first river

When Five and Dolores first found a river in the apocalypse, Five didn't believe it was real.

However, once he had touched the surface and was convinced, he ran back to Dolores on the trailer, swept her up into his arms and delightedly took her down to the bank.

He pulled his shirt over his head, and dunked it in the water, rinsing and wringing until the worst of the dirt came loose. Then, very tenderly, he used it to wipe Dolores' face clean of ash and dirt - the marks of the hell they were living in.


	4. Discovering coffee

Contrary to popular belief, Five's love affair with coffee did not start at the commission. In fact, it started at the tender age of 14, in a house with only two of it's old walls still standing, sat by a campfire made from the old dining table.

It started in a hellish world where old cans of coffee granules could be found in the rubble of nearly every house.

It started when Five realised that coffee could disguise the off-colour and stale taste of the rainwater he collected, and painstakingly heated in a pan.


	5. Memorabilia

Two months after landing in the world of hell, after finding the fractured remains of his family and doing his best to lay them to rest, Five found the figurines.

Inside the scratched and battered academy lunch box, the little plastic likenesses of his siblings laid safe. Not a single chip of paint missing from the young faces he remembered leaving behind.

The figurines went with him when he went back to his siblings graves. He slowly built two towers of broken bricks to represent Ben and Vanya, whom he'd finally lost hope of finding. Then he gently kissed each of his siblings’ figurines and left them as markers.

But Vanya didn't have a figurine.

So with a whispered apology, he left her his own instead, and asked her look after him.


	6. Entertainment

In the apocalypse, Five and Dolores made their own entertainment. After finding a library, there were hours of fun to be had.

Five would raid their clothes stash and they would dress up to suit their characters. Then, they would sit across from each other, and amuse themselves by acting out the different play scripts they found.


	7. The dark

Nights in the apocalypse were darker than any other. Especially in the beginning, when thick clouds and billows of smoke would obscure the night sky.

But Dolores was never afraid of the dark. Not when she had Five.

Five wasn't afraid of the dark either.

Because he knew there was nothing, and nobody, left out there to be afraid of.


	8. Burial

Burying his siblings by himself, was one of the hardest, loneliest, and scariest things Five ever had to do.

It didn't help when he thought he saw Klaus' hand twitch, just as he finished covering him with dirt.


	9. Dolores

Five found Dolores before he found his siblings, and together they stayed, until the very end of his time in the apocalypse.

Five hadn't meant to fall in love with her, not at all.

In fact, Five had originally picked Dolores up so he'd have somebody to argue with.

But 45 years with each other is a lifetime after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspiration for this one came from a conversation with Caelice

**Author's Note:**

> If this made you feel something, I'd love it if you could drop me a kudos or even better a comment below ❤️
> 
> EDIT march 2021 - I am marking this complete now because they do all work alone, BUT I may still update in the future, so if that's something you might be interested in seeing I recommend hitting subscribe just in case ☺️


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